Harchen caught several fish the size of forearms. Their irritable flapping reminded him of someone, so he glanced towards the wooden house.

The fleeting dawn that had passed, the situation where he was pressed tightly against her, spread through his mind.

Is this, always like this? Once aroused, desire refused to subside.

In the end, he found various excuses to turn the boat around. He left the bucket of jumping fish to Calip and entered the wooden house, where a young maid greeted him.

When asked where Patricia was, the maid said she was in the couple’s bedroom.

Taking a nap, huh, good girl. I’ll wake her up, heh.

Harchen pulled at the collar of his shirt to smell the sea. As he was about to go to the bathroom to shower first, he stopped and looked over his shoulder into the couple’s bedroom. The neatly made bed was empty.

He rode on horseback with Pamuk to the Count Valenti’s mansion, but Patricia wasn’t there. After half-heartedly listening to Monica’s explanation, he rode at full speed towards the cemetery by the beach.

Now, he couldn’t bear even a moment when she was out of his sight. He resolved that wherever she went, whatever she did, he had to stay by her side.

Even when Harchen discovered Patricia sitting against a tombstone amidst the red beach rose flowers, his pulse quickened. He wanted to hold her. He dismounted and walked quickly towards her.

Seeing her lost in thought, then turning to face him with a sorrowful expression, it felt like his heart was being torn apart.

Why, you. Why are you, sitting there alone, crying like that?

He embraced her tightly as she awkwardly stood up. He gazed endlessly into her tearful blue eyes. His throat choked up, unable to ask anything.

At the banquet, various dishes of fried, grilled, and steamed fish caught during fishing were served.

Calip, Bern, and Lean exaggeratedly explained the fishing process to Patricia, and she tilted her head, asking this and that. She seemed to be satisfying her curiosity about fishing, at least on the surface.

The emperor silently drank champagne while closely observing her.

She’s smiling on the outside, but not on the inside. Her body is here, but her mind is elsewhere, where, the mine where Patrick and Eden are? The cemetery by the beach.

He drank champagne, his heart aching at her every expression.

After the meal, he held her hand and walked along the beach. When they were alone, she became noticeably less talkative.

“We’re on our honeymoon now.”

The arm around her waist tightened slightly, and his pulse quickened.

“Shall we go back now?”

As soon as they lay down on the bed, Patricia approached him closely, asking to be held. It was uncharacteristically blatant of her. This excited him even more. He slowly embraced her, lowering his hand.

“No.”

Patricia said that Harchen’s concept of embracing was something he wanted for himself, but when she asked to be held, she meant literally just holding her and sleeping without doing anything else.

“How can I hold you and not do anything?”

“Harchen, do what you want in Pana Castle, not today.”

He was dumbfounded and incredulous.

Clearly, on the beach earlier, she had spoken in a seductive voice.

Of course, tonight I’m still your mermaid.

Saying that, she nestled defensively into his arms. He was subtly bothered by her words “not today.” So something had happened.

Something she didn’t want to tell her husband yet. He loosened his arms and looked down at the face of the woman buried in his embrace.

He slowly ran his hand down her body. Unresponsively, she had fallen asleep.

Such thin fabric between us, and she wants to just sleep holding each other.

Even the sound of crashing waves seemed provocative to Harchen.

His jaw clenched from the effort of maintaining distance in the arm holding her. It was a dawn where he realized how emotions could expand, bursting blood vessels and causing bleeding.

*

Patricia smiled brightly upon seeing Patrick and Eden sitting in the breakfast room.

“Your Highness Patrick, I see you’ve returned safely.”

“Are we finally going to the legendary Pana Castle today?”

“What legend? So how was your trip?”

“Deep in those mountains, there were stone walls three times the height of a person surrounding it.”

“You weakling. That’s why you should have taken me. Climbing over that is like eating sliced fruit for me.”

Ha! Such cheek!

The emperor’s expression soured as he glanced at her. He frowned, recalling last night’s events.

But now, seeing the two foxes with their bright yellow heads together, grinning, irritated him even more.

That platinum blonde still has insolent eyes. I should throw him into the sea one more time.

“Building stone walls deep in the mountains is suspicious in itself.”

“I really should have gone with you. You even climbed over the walls of Pana Castle.”

Patrick smiled prettily. To deflect her question, he made eye contact with the emperor, changing the subject by asking how much fish they caught during sea fishing, which he had heard about.

Sly fox. As if you went all that way just to be stopped by stone walls and return.

*

The carriage, sent off by King Torun, the crown prince, and the Valenti family members, arrived at Pana Castle in the southern part of the empire after a day and a half.

“We’re almost at Pana Castle.”

Harchen felt a shiver run down his spine at the mere thought of spending the night with Patricia in his bedroom at Pana Castle.

On the dawn when he had given his bed to Patricia, who had been brought as a prisoner, he was surprised to find himself pressed close to her when he woke up.

Haa, how did I just let her sleep?

“Patrick, that’s Pana Castle over there.”

Patricia pointed to the tall castle surrounded by high walls beneath the spire. The quartz and diamonds embedded in the upper part of the walls reflected the afternoon light.

“It’s majestic and dignified.”

Patrick, who had been looking up at the castle walls decorated with brilliant minerals like garnet, pyrite, emerald, and amber – different from Tane’s castle-building techniques – turned around.

“Wow, Risha. It’s really amazing that you climbed over those high walls?”

As the carriage approached the castle, the castle and spire disappeared from view, leaving only the massive walls visible.

“Hehe, I’m amazed too. It was easy coming down from the emperor’s bedroom window. But looking up from here, the walls are truly enormous.”

“So you really slept in Harchen’s bedroom. It’s hard to believe nothing happened?”

“Nothing did happen, you know?”

Patricia looked out the window, avoiding Patrick’s mischievous gaze. The emperor on his black horse was approaching. His hand loosely holding the reins was visible right before her eyes. She blushed.

‘I must be crazy. I can’t even look at his hands.’

The emperor was wearing cream-colored leather gloves, but imagining the firm knuckles and callused hands inside the gloves sent a strange feeling coursing through her body.

“Hahaha, I can imagine Harchen’s expression when you disappeared, even without seeing it.”

As Patrick laughed loudly, the emperor leaned on the carriage window, peering inside.

“What’s so amusing? We’ve arrived.”

Waaah.

“Harchen, Harchen, Harchen!”

As they approached the castle gates, the familiar sound of people chanting Harchen’s name could be heard. Patricia was used to it, but it was unfamiliar to Patrick.

“Isn’t this excessive hero worship? Do they always get this excited in this castle?”

Indeed they did. The residents of Pana Castle, knights, and servants were enthusiastic about Harchen himself, not as an emperor or crown prince.

This was inevitable because Pana Castle had no separate lord, and the emperor was its master. The previous emperor had come once every 4-5 years for a vacation to escape the harsh winter, staying for 3-4 days.

Harchen, since his time as crown prince, had stopped by Pana Castle on his way to and from studying at Tane Academy, staying for ten days at a time.

During his stays at the castle, he thoroughly inspected the interior and personally engaged in sword matches with the knights. Even during meals, he tried to mingle with as many people as possible, making him special to the castle residents.

After passing through the arched castle gate and drawbridge, all the servants of Pana Castle, including the butler, were lined up.

The emperor dismounted from his carriage. The butler approached and opened the door of the carriage carrying Patricia and Patrick. The emperor took Patricia’s hand and asked the butler.

“That person?”

“He is unharmed.”

The emperor turned around to see Patrick talking with Eden.

“Patrick. Do you want to meet him now?”

“Yes, I will.”

The emperor ordered Calip to let Patrick meet the Lasbur merchant guild’s underling in the dungeon.

As they passed by, receiving greetings from the servants, Patricia stopped in front of two Heun-race maids. Noticing Patricia’s gaze, the maids bowed even lower.

“We greet the rising morning sun, Her Majesty the Empress.”

“You two, you didn’t suffer any hardships because of me, did you?”

“Your Majesty. We did not.”

In most cases of prisoner escape, maids involved would usually face death, imprisonment, or at least expulsion from the castle.

But seeing the maids still in the castle, Patricia was able to alleviate some of the guilt in the corner of her heart.

“That’s a relief. Your names were Rian and Jane, right?”

“Oh my, you remembered our names. As expected, your memory is impressive.”

“I’m grateful to you both.”

In fact, the main contributors to Patricia’s escape from Pana Castle were the purity and naivety of the Heun-race maids.

She was able to cut the leather straps with scissors from their baskets, and use their kind hearts to bring Brie into the window.

Patricia thought she should repay them somehow. She turned and gestured for Annie to come closer.

“Give them ten gold coins each.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Patricia’s heart pounded as she climbed the stairs.

Is this how it feels to return to the scene of a crime? But is it a crime for a prisoner to escape? Isn’t it natural for a prisoner to try to escape?

The emperor also climbed the stairs silently. A servant opened the heavy double doors leading to the reception room.

A servant carrying Patricia’s luggage set it down in the dressing room under the maid’s direction. Annie asked Patricia if she wanted to change into a dress after bathing.

“No. Later.”

The butler asked the emperor if he wanted light refreshments and tea served, as there was plenty of time until the evening banquet.

“No need. You may go now.”

At the emperor’s dismissal, the servants, maids, Annie, and the butler bowed and quietly withdrew. The double doors carved with grapes, vines, and leaves closed.

Click. The emperor locked the door from the inside.

She turned around in the middle of the reception room. He leaned against the door, tilting his head slightly, gazing at her.

The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the heavy silence.

“Where… shall I embrace you?”

The emperor said in a low voice.